SEC Photo
John Calipari certainly was feeling the love Friday for both his teams and Kentucky fans. The Cats have been in Tennessee almost a week because of the weather. Kentucky beat Vanderbilt Wednesday in Nashville and now plays Tennessee in Knoxville Saturday.
Calipari has said things at times this season that have infuriated fans but not Friday when discussing his team’s 7-13 season.
“To the fans that have been great to us, and to me personally, and I’ll say it again, they’ve been great. I understand that when your record is struggling, there will be people coming out and having their opinions or haven’t had a chance to really say anything for 11 years. I’m fine with all of that. It doesn’t bother me,” Calipari said.
“But I’ll say this, our fans are what this program is about, and how they’ve been to me through this and how they’ve been to this team through this, unbelievable.
“Like none of us are used to this. None of us are used to this pandemic either. None of us are used to all that’s gone on late where we’re still teaching, still learning and that’s this experience.”
Calipari continued to sound optimistic that his team could still find a way to win the SEC Tournament and get into the NCAA Tournament despite not having summer workouts or fall practices or team-building scenarios due to COVID.
“Our fans, this is a fan-raving fans program. They (players) haven’t gotten to witness any of the good. Any of the good. And some of the social media stuff, that hasn’t been good,” Calipari said.
“But our record hasn’t been good. People have the right to say what they want to say and have their opinions. So that, they’ve got none of the good.”
Again, a much kinder, more understanding John Calipari today and one I think UK fans have missed.
